Quote:
Originally Posted by Battara
Nice true example. I agree with everything you have assessed. The carving one the hilt and the style of carving on the scabbard tell me that this is indeed an older garab.
The only thing I would add is that I wonder if the hilt had more rattan bands on it.
I would also wonder if the coin is silver and this is a way of showing wealth, or, perhaps more likely, a talisman.
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Thanks for the compliment =) it's always a possibility that there were more rattan bands- especially pre-repair.
The 8 Maravedis was a low-denomination coin, about 1/8th in value of a Spanish Real. It's a "commoner" coin (highly accessible to Indios) and made up of mostly copper, used to purchase common goods in the market and pay laborer's wages. The coin was even used for the "Cara Y Cruz" commoner's betting game (the winner correctly guesses if a coin toss is heads or tails).
Because of its low value and lack of silver, I'm inclined to believe that it wasn't used as a status/nobility marker nor a talisman- but simply as a scabbard rope stopper. Its low value made it expendable enough to be used for such a practical purpose.
This also leads me to believe- since the nobility and talismanic purpose is unlikely- that the coin has good potential to be an age indicator, in the same way that I could simply grab a modern-era Philippine peso (very common, low value, expendable) to be pierced and used as a scabbard rope-stopper for a modern-made blade. Other nobility swords (Moro, Ilonggo, etc) would prioritize putting high-value silver coins from current or older eras- making those coins unreliable for age approximation.